For all the talk of EV mandates and changing tastes, there’s a long future for the V8 in the United States. It has proven to be the right mill for the kinds of big trucks and SUVs that make up a large portion of America’s fleet, and an even larger portion of automaker profits. Just ask General Motors.
The company announced today that it’ll put $888 million in its Tonawanda Propulsion plant in upstate New York in order to build the company’s next-generation V8. Let’s hope it works out better than the current truck V8.
The Morning Dump was delayed this morning as I rushed to get up news of a new Stellantis CEO. I suggested he’d face many problems, and right at the top is the announcement that the company’s cockpit tie-up with Amazon isn’t happening. Oh well. It could be worse. Four Volkswagen execs are going to jail over their role in Dieselgate, which makes a scuttled deal seem not quite as bad by comparison.
What’s the harder job? CEO of Nissan or CEO of Stellantis? Today, Stellantis is looking a little better, as Nissan is going to have to probably sell its HQ and heavily restructure in order to survive into the future. Perhaps John Bull can help.
$888 Million To Tonawanda For More V8s
My guess is that GM wasn’t planning to walk away from its Tonawanda plant, which has been pumping out engines for the company since 1937. It even served as a key part of the Arsenal of Democracy, producing over 64,000 engines for various Allied planes, including the B-24 Liberator. Still, with all the tariff talk, it doesn’t hurt to announce an investment in the United States right now.
It’s been pumping out motors basically continuously for almost 90 years, and the automaker says it’s ready to make its biggest ever engine plant investment, $888 million, in the Buffalo-area facility to produce its next-generation V8 for trucks and SUVs. Sweet. Why $888 million? Clearly, it’s a tribute to the Triple Eight Race Engineering firm that races V8 Camaros in Australia’s Supercars Championship. Probably.
“Our significant investments in GM’s Tonawanda Propulsion plant show our commitment to strengthening American manufacturing and supporting jobs in the U.S.,” said Mary Barra, Chair and CEO. “GM’s Buffalo plant has been in operation for 87 years and is continuing to innovate the engines we build there to make them more fuel efficient and higher performing, which will help us deliver world-class trucks and SUVs to our customers for years to come.”
What do we know about this engine? Not much. It’ll be the sixth-generation V8 that’s planned for big trucks and SUVs like the Silverado, Yukon, Escalade, et cetera. The company says in a release that it’s “expected to deliver stronger performance than today’s engines while benefiting fuel economy and reducing emissions. New combustion and thermal management innovations are a key factor driving these improvements.”
Previously, GM announced a big investment in its Flint Engine plant, which also produces V8s. The third plant making the company’s small block V8s is in Toluca, Mexico.
There may be at least one other factor at play here. GM had to recall about 600,000 of its current L87 6.2-liter V8s due to defective rotating assembly parts, resulting in a lot of engine failures. Tonawanda is going to need about two years to get ready for the next-generation engine, and, as the Detroit Free Press points out, the current generation engine is under investigation. It’s possible that GM will need to keep making engines to potentially replace some of its current V8s.
RIP Stellantis-Amazon SmartCockpit
Did I even remember that Stellantis and Amazon at one point agreed to make a new smart cockpit for its cars to compete, I presume, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto? I did not. Stellantis has a new CEO, and the Amazon deal is reportedly dead.
Here’s a bit from the announcement of the project back in 2022:
“Working together with Amazon is an integral part of our capability building roadmap, based on both developing internal competencies and decisive collaborations with tech leaders, and it will bring significant expertise to one of our key technology platforms, STLA SmartCockpit,” said Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis. “By leveraging artificial intelligence and cloud solutions, we will transform our vehicles into personalized living spaces and enhance the overall customer experience, making our vehicles the most wanted, most captivating place to be, even when not driving.”
Huh. Ok. What does that mean?
Amazon and Stellantis will collaborate to deliver software for STLA SmartCockpit, which will run in millions of Stellantis vehicles globally starting in 2024. The software-defined platform will seamlessly integrate with customers’ digital lives to create personalized, intuitive in-vehicle experiences through AI-enhanced applications for entertainment, Alexa-enabled voice assistance, navigation, vehicle maintenance, ecommerce marketplaces and payment services.
The STLA SmartCockpit platform will use Amazon products and solutions that are purpose-built for vehicles, and Stellantis will have the flexibility to create custom, brand- and vehicle-specific capabilities. The software will offer curated services and experiences through an app store, all displayed through an intelligent, adaptive, user-interface design that presents timely, relevant information and features suited to each occupant’s individual needs and preferences.
I don’t want to dog on Stellantis too much here, because Software-Defined Vehicles are definitely a thing. Amazon seems like a questionable partner for it, all things considered, but it was a worthwhile shot. So why didn’t it work? According to Reuters, it’s a little vague:
Reuters couldn’t determine any singular reason the partnership on SmartCockpit ended. The companies said the shift “will allow each team to focus on solutions that provide value to our shared customers and better align with our evolving strategies.”
Relative newcomers, like Elon Musk’s Tesla, built electrical and software systems that can quickly deliver new features or fixes to customers at a lower cost to the company. Traditional carmakers, including Volkswagen and General Motors, have struggled to master these systems on their own, and have been poaching talent from Silicon Valley or forming partnerships in an effort to reverse that trend.
Unlike Tesla which has very little complexity across its smaller lineup of vehicles, Stellantis manages dozens of models across 14 brands and a maze of global suppliers, increasing the challenges around implementing new software.
To be competitive, Stellantis will need something like this. Perhaps it can just latch onto Rivian’s software like Volkswagen did.
Four More VW Execs Are Going To Jail Over Dieselgate
The Volkswagen emissions scandal, known as Dieselgate, is almost ten years old. After four years of trials, four VW employees have been sentenced to jail.
The former head of development Heinz-Jakob Neusser received a suspended jail term of one year and three months from the court in the city of Braunschweig, according to the news agency Bloomberg.
A former head of drive electronics, named only as Hanno J, was given a sentence of two years and seven months, German media reported.
The heaviest sentence, of four years and six months, was given to the former head of diesel motor development Jens H, while the fourth defendant was given a suspended sentence of one year and 10 months. The defendants can appeal against the rulings.
Then-VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has yet to go on trial, due to his ongoing health issues. My guess is that he probably never goes on trial.
Nissan Is Shaking Down Britain For A Loan
The British car industry is so hot right now, and it looks like a struggling Nissan is going to use the fact that the country’s largest car plant happens to be a Nissan one to get a little money.
Nissan is seeking to take out a £1 billion ($1.4 billion) syndicated loan, guaranteed by UK Export Finance, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, after viewing internal company documents. It’s part of a broader plan to raise more than ¥1 trillion ($7 billion) from debt and asset sales considering the carmaker faces a huge loan repayment wall next year.
Various financial institutions have been lined up to contribute to the facility, which will comprise one of the largest components of Nissan’s planned fundraising. UK Export Finance, a government body that aids UK businesses export goods and services by providing financial support, has helped in the past with financing for high-speed rail construction in Turkey and infrastructure in Angola.
Extending a lifeline to Nissan makes sense considering the Japanese car manufacturer operates Britain’s largest automaking hub in Sunderland. Nissan has committed to boost electric vehicle production there with a £2 billion investment and the British government has hailed the project as a vote of confidence in the country’s automotive industry after years of uncertainty following Brexit.
Nissan is also looking to sell its Japanese headquarters to try to raise enough money to pay its bills.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Speaking of the UK, here’s the country’s hottest band (in my world at least), Wet Leg, with the new song “CPR.” Are they in an old Volkswagen? Looks like it.
The Big Question
How long will the V8 survive? Follow up: What’s the best GM V8 ever?
Top image credit: GM
That’s a lotta Wandas!
Came here for V8 news, left satisfied with a Wet Leg drop.. I love that group.
The driver is the only one wearing a seatbelt in the Wet Leg video.
What did they know that the others didn’t?
Long live the V8 and gasoline forever!
Best GM V8?
The Rover V8 – from Buick.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_V8_engine
Best GM V8?
I’m going to say something unpopular and I couldn’t care less, it’s the V8 I’ve owned three of:
Northstar.
Sounds beautiful when winding up to redline, always has power to give, great gas mileage, and in my experience, some of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned.
Dear GM, some suggestions on your new V8 that I’m very excited about.
1) if you must have cylinder deactivation, please simply give us a button to turn it off, much like the button to turn off auto stop/start.
2) consider a fuel delivery system similar to Toyota’s method of combining port and direct injection called D-4S.
3) make it burble.
why don’t they do cylinder deactivation instead of auto stop/start?
Auto Stop/Start is simply deactivating all cylinders at once.
Ha! My ’17 Honda Accord V-6 has cylinder deactivation, and while I can feel it when it brings the other bank back online, it’s pretty subtle. There’s a forum I visit once in a while, some members of which despise it and share workarounds to defeat it.
On the freeway, the Accord gets 40+ mpg on the same trips my ’01 Jetta TDI would get 47-48 mpg, obviously on diesel. Since diesel is more expensive than regular unleaded these days (and has been for more than a few years now), fuel costs are essentially a wash. And I have more than 2.5x the HP and nearly 2x the torque available when I want or need it.
The TDI was fun and more engaging to drive (5M vs automatic), but maintenance costs were significantly higher. A failing injection pump almost stranded me at 60K and the rebuilt one they put in under warranty did leave me dead in the water at 101K. And VWAG only offered me $1,000 if I traded it in on a new VW. I got it fixed because I didn’t want a car note. I sold it 60K miles later.
That and some other longevity issues convinced me to move back to Honda. I’d had two of them before and they were both very trouble-free. The current one has had zero issues at 65K miles.
Anyway, Auto Stop/Start is far more annoying to me than cylinder deactivation. I’ve owned a BMW and an Acura with it. The Acura was worse/slower to react than the BMW. But neither was great. The best I experienced was in a Chevy Malibu rental (of all things). Unfortunately, the CVT it had took away all the credits.
I think we’ll have V8s well into the 2030s, maybe even 40s.
They’re great for low-maintenance, low cost, but high torque applications where you don’t want a diesel or a turbo V6 with all the complexity that comes with them, and the efficiency isn’t the highest priority.
Think commercial vehicles, work trucks, step vans, RVs, ambulances, school buses, etc. in fleet use.
Sure, you could put a turbo V6/I6 into these, and deal with direct injection, turbos, particle filters that even gas engines have now, and only get marginally better MPG and emissions than a N/A port-injected V8.
Not to mention packaging, LS V8s are quite compact.
Best GM V8? Probably gen 3 LS engines.